


Shopping Mall Adventures

by nuuuge



Series: Frozen Waves Trilogy [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kid Fic, Multi, Shopping, kid!direction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-20
Updated: 2014-01-20
Packaged: 2018-01-09 08:59:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1144073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nuuuge/pseuds/nuuuge
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Of course Liam was out with his girlfriend, probably at the exact same mall Zayn was going to and Louis was spending the day with Harry at the Zoo. Why he didn’t take Niall with him was beyond Zayn, but the teenager shrugged it off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shopping Mall Adventures

**Author's Note:**

> Part 2 (taken from my tumblr) ahahahaha enjoy. :)   
> I am so glad people enjoyed the first part.   
> Comments/Kudos all that jazz are appreciated. <3

Zayn had to go to the store. He needed new shoes for Basketball and he’d finally saved up enough money to go and buy himself a sick pair of sneakers. He’d had his eye on a certain pair by Nike, way too expensive, is what his fathers thought, but Zayn was sick of the old clothes from Louis.

Louis was slightly shorter than him, thinner since he didn’t work out as much, so Zayn’s clothes always clung to him and felt too tight, too constricting. Whenever Zayn had enough money, instead of saving it he’d spend it on something he’d always wanted.

“I can come?” Niall asked, when he saw Zayn get into his piece of crap Honda.

Of course Liam was out with his girlfriend, probably at the exact same mall Zayn was going to and Louis was spending the day with Harry at the Zoo. Why he didn’t take Niall with him was beyond Zayn, but the teenager shrugged it off.

He saw his dads stand by the door, holding one another and Zayn relented, smiling and nodding, letting Niall come. The smaller boy cheered excitedly before rushing back inside, grabbing a jacket and his little sneakers before running back over to Zayn, so he would help him with the knot.

“Thanks Zayn.” Nick smiled and hugged his second oldest before the two men went back inside.

Zayn sighed and smiled. At leas it would give his overworked parents an afternoon off and the teenager really wanted his dads to be happy. Taking care of the 5 of them and constantly worrying about Harry and his health had a toll on them. The least Zayn could do was watch over Niall for a day.

“Look! Look Zaynie!” Niall cheered and pulled out a small Kermit the Frog wallet from the tiny backpack he had brought with him, “I’ve got 15 dollars!”

Zayn smiled and ruffled his brothers hair, “That’s great buddy! We’ll buy you something nice with that today okay?”

Niall nodded excitedly, climbing into his booster seat in the back of his brothers car, Zayn helping him put the seat belt on before the two drove off to the mall. Of course Niall was ‘singing’ along to the radio the entire ride.

The mall was  _huge_! Daddy and Pa, barely ever brought Niall there. They said they couldn’t afford a lot of the things there so they didn’t go so often. Now Niall was here, with Zayn, and he was so  _excited_.

It was so  _exciting_  to see all the people rush by him, looking into the stores. Everything was so colorful and so… big. It was amazing. Niall loved every moment about it. He saw the white mannequins dressed in clothes Niall could only dream of ever wearing.

“Come on kitten.” Zayn couldn’t help but smile when he saw how amazed Niall was at all the stores and he’d only been looking at the displays, not even entered a store.

Sometimes Zayn hated how the family didn’t have enough money. Kids like Niall and Harry deserved everything in the world. They weren’t supposed to be deprived of little things like going to the mall and buying new clothes.

But sometimes things just didn’t fall into place right and Niall and Harry seemed happy enough to be where they were. That was enough for Zayn not to curse his life. He just wished that there was more he could do, especially for his little brothers.

“Look Zaynie!” Niall tugged at his brothers hand, pointing towards the fountain in the middle of the mall, a large tree growing in the middle of it, casting a beautiful shadow over half of the hallway, “Liam is there!” Niall let go of Zayn and was about to run off, but the older teenager grabbed Niall before he could get too far.

“Watch out Niall. Don’t let go of my hand okay?” He’d heard enough stories about kids being snatched away in crowded places like these and he did not want Niall to be one of them. He needed to protect his brother and with his recent fear of dark and tight spaces, it was even more frightening for Zayn. He had to keep Niall safe.

“Sorry…” Niall whispered and bit his lip, looking up sheepishly, but Zayn couldn’t stay mad at those dark blue orbs of his baby brother. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“It’s alright kitten. Just stay close to me okay? We’ll go over to see Liam, just have to tell me alright?” Zayn asked Niall who nodded, smile returning to his pink lips, the smaller boy dragging Zayn over towards their brother.

“Liam!” Niall chirped and jumped at the teenager who was sitting by the fountain with a girl beside him. The two were sharing an ice cream, probably Vanilla since it was Liam’s favorite.

Liam looked over and let a small smile slide over his face. He had learnt his lesson about abandoning his family and his relationship with his brothers had gotten better, especially between him and Niall.

“What’s up?” Liam asked the small boy, ruffling his hair and letting him have a bite of his ice cream.

Niall scrunched up his face at the taste of the ice cream, eyes widening in pure bewilderment, when it wasn’t Vanilla that he tasted. Everyone knew that Liam only ever had vanilla ice cream… not strawberry!

“Zaynie is taking me shopping!” Niall exclaimed.

The girl laughed next to Liam, finding the small boy adorable. His smile was contagious and his pure energy was adorable.

“That’s great! I hope you two have fun!” Liam smiled.

Niall nodded his head vigorously, making himself a little dizzy in the process the older teenagers laughing at him. Liam and his girlfriend split then, going to see a movie, while Zayn took Niall to the shoe store where he would get his nice Nike sneakers.

“What are you getting?” Niall asked Zayn curiously, eyes widening at the large assortment of shoes.

Niall rushed over towards the kids shoes. If Zayn was getting shoes then Niall wanted some new ones too. His eyes raked over the different colors and types, when they landed on a pair of perfect blue shoes. He pulled out his tiny green wallet, looking into it, then reaching for the shoes.

Zayn could see Niall making heart eyes at a pair of blue Chuck Taylors. He knew they’d be too expensive for Niall and his 15$, but the way Niall was looking at them, as though they were everything Niall ever wanted made Zayn smile.

He had his own pair of 190$ basketball shoes in his own hands. He walked over to Niall who showed Zayn the shoes, grinning brightly, “Look at these!”

Zayn smiled happily, “But they cost more than you’ve got.” Zayn frowned, running his thumb over his brothers brow, the small boys’ face falling and making him pout, look at the blue shoe.

Zayn sighed and hugged Niall close to him. Niall frowned and pulled himself close to his brother, wishing he could have the shoe. Never before had Niall wanted something as much as those shoes. He wanted to be cool just like Zaynie was and he wanted cool shoes like him!

Zayn looked at the price, 35$... he walked back over to the shelf where he’d just pulled out his expensive pair of basketball shoes. Put those back and then grabbed the slightly less expensive 150$ pair, still good, not the thing he wanted, but just as colorful and with the money he’d save he could help Niall pay for the small pair of Converse he wanted.

“Hey Kitten…” Zayn smiled, “How about you try them on to see the size alright?”

Niall looked at Zayn, seeing a new box in his arms, “You no get the ones from before?”

Zayn smiled and shook his head, crouching down to be at his brothers level, “Nahh. They were lame anyways. You need cool shoes to match mine.”

Niall brightened up immediately, running off to find a vendor, Zayn hot on his heels, making sure that Niall didn’t get lost or anything.

A young vendor got the smallest size of the blue converse, then went on to tell Niall about all the different colors they had and the small boy couldn’t help himself but try on every single color, every time asking Zayn which one looked best.

In the end the small boy chose Orange with green laces, because it looked amazing and Zayn helped him with it all. They brought all their shoes to the cash and paid, Niall immediately wanting to sport his colorful new shoes.

“They’re so cool!” He grinned and Zayn knew that it was worth it. He saved money, still had about 25 dollars left over and he got to see his brother so happy.

By then it was time for lunch, so the two walked over to the food court, where most people had gathered by then. Niall pulled himself closer to Zayn, hand gripping tightly onto Zayn’s, not liking how crowded everything was here. It wasn’t fun crowded like in the rest of the mall, no this was scary and tight, just like the  _closet_.

Zayn bent down and picked Niall up, noticing the small boy’s breath laboring. Niall wrapped his short arms around his brothers neck, his legs resting at his hips. From up on his brothers side, everything seemed less scary, less crowded. Niall liked it there.

They got Burgers and drinks, then found a place to sit down somewhere. Zayn helped Niall with his food, noticing that there were onions and pickles on his tiny burger. Niall hated pickles and onions. He just wanted plain, merely the meat and bun.

“I’ll fix it.” Zayn smiled and then took everything off the burger that Niall wouldn’t eat, setting it down on the side of the platter.

“Thanks!” Niall grinned and then dug in to his burger.

Zayn loved it, loved how carefree Niall was, the scare of a few weeks ago still not quite past him. Zayn wanted to spend as much time as he could with Niall, but he was always so busy and he hoped that Louis also learnt his lesson, but clearly by forgetting to even  _ask_  Niall if he wanted to go to the Zoo, the eldest didn’t.

Zayn and Louis had gotten into quite the argument over this, Louis laughing at Zayn, saying he did love both equal, spent equal time with the twins, but it was so obvious and no one could seem to open the eldest boys’ eyes. Niall loved Louis, but Louis only ever ignored the small boy.

“Do you want to look into any other stores?” Zayn asked Niall.

Niall nodded, “The big toy store!” He exclaimed.

“You know you’ve not got any money left right?” Zayn asked Niall laughing when Niall only confirmed by nodding and shouting an ‘I know’, making everyone around look in their direction.

It was in the toy store that the afternoon went downhill. Zayn had turned his back for a moment, looking at some cool wooden dolls made by hand, fingers running over the detail and when Zayn turned back to talk to Niall the small boy was gone…

Zayn cursed himself and looked around, but the little boy was nowhere to be seen.

The older boy panicked. He lost his little brother. Niall was gone, nowhere to be seen. Zayn didn’t know what to do, didn’t know where to look. He just stood frozen, eyes raking over all the faces in the store, kids with moms, older teenagers looking at the pokemon cards… No Niall though.

Zayn cursed, snapped out of his daze and then rushed off, looking through all the aisles, running by the stuffed animals at least four times, since he knew how much Niall loved his plush toys, but he wasn’t in the store, wasn’t anywhere.

“God damnit…” Zayn growled, he felt the panic grip him, shake him. Sweat running down his neck.

Louis had never lost Harry, he’d never had a scare like this and the one time Zayn took Niall out he lost his brother. He was the worst. He shouldn’t have agreed to take Niall out, should have made him stay home. Zayn was such an idiot. He knew how curious Niall was… worst of all what if someone had taken him?

“Wow, you’re looking freaked out…” Liam…  _oh god Liam!_

“Niall… I can’t find him.” Zayn stuttered out, close to tears almost. He didn’t know what to do. The mall was too big to search on his own, but he wouldn’t know where Niall would go. He didn’t know where he’d gone who he had gone with…

Liam and his girlfriend, Isabella Zayn thought absent mindedly, looked horrified as well.

“What do you mean… can’t find…?” Liam hissed, eyes turning to slits.

“Oh fuck off Liam. Don’t play the caring brother card on me, when  I’ve been the one to take care of him for the past few months while you’ve been fucking around with drugs and Louis, dad and pa were too busy with Harry.”  Zayn growled.

Liam took a step back and rolled his eyes, “I’m sorry for trying to change that Zayn… let’s just fucking find him.” Liam and Isabella walked off, “We’ll alert mall security, you just go and walk around and try to find him.” Liam exclaimed over his shoulder and then was off.

Zayn couldn’t believe what he’d just said, but he was just stressed beyond anything. What if someone had taken little Niall, hurt him or something similar.

“Yo Zayn!” Why were people constantly talking to him?

A bunch of the guys from his team were at the mall, looking quite confused as to why Zayn seemed to be near a panic attack.

“My little brother is missing. I’ve got to find him.” Zayn explained, wanting to push by them. He had to find Niall, who knew how scared the small boy was. He couldn’t possibly have gotten too far, but Zayn just needed him close by, to know… he just needed to know.

“What he look like we’ll help?” Colin asked, concerned now as well.

Zayn often told the guys of his brothers, they knew he had 4 other siblings and he knew two of them were quite little, so all of the guys wanted to help their teammate out.

Zayn showed them a picture on his phone of Niall, sent it to all of them and they split up to go through the entire mall. Zayn was thankful for them. He was glad to have such an accepting team. He knew in other schools kids with his ‘poor’ background would constantly get made fun of, but his team and his friends never cared, just cared for his personality and game.

“Can you believe what he just said to me?” Liam hissed.

Isabella rolled her eyes and shrugged, “It is sort of the truth. I know you don’t want to hear it right now babe, but he had a point. You were quite horrible to them the past year.”

Liam stopped walking, looked at Isabella and sighed. The girl pulled Liam into a hug, let him bury his face in her shoulder. His chest was shaking as he tried to hold back the tears. Liam felt terrible, he just didn’t want to admit that he had made shit friends and he didn’t want Niall and Harry near those douche bags.

“Liam… it’ll be alright…” Isabella whispered, fingers running through her boyfriends hair, scratching at his scalp, “We’re going to find Niall and it’ll be okay.”

Liam nodded, still shaken by everything. He was mad at himself, for how he’d acted all this time, but most of all he was still fuming at Zayn for managing to lose Niall in the first place. It as obvious that Niall was curious, that he wanted to see everything around.

Zayn was rushing from place to place, running into Forever 21 and looking like a mad man when he couldn’t find Niall sitting anywhere. He’d been so entertained by the mannequins only hours before, so Zayn was going for every place with flashy display cases. Anything to find Niall.

He was near tears, about to give up, just sit down and cry, when he got the message from Colin. The lanky ginger had found Niall at the sports store.

Zayn ran. He didn’t care if he looked crazy. He shoved people out of his way, towards the sports store, sending a quick text to Liam to meet him at the sports store. In the entry way was a display for those expensive Helmet camera’s the ‘GoPro’ Zayn read.

Niall sat in front of it, completely oblivious to the world around him, watching the ad with some famous skier going over jumps and doing tricks. He clapped excitedly when the guy landed his trick, then looked around.

Niall brightened at the sight of Zayn, who was on his knees a few feet away, a tear running down his cheek, so happy to have his little brother be safe and alive. Zayn didn’t even think of scolding Niall, he was just so glad he was alright.

“Zaynie!” Niall cheered, then waved to Colin who smiled and nodded at the little guy.

 Niall got up and ran over towards Zayn, wrapping his small arms around his neck.

“Look! It looks so fun!” Niall pointed back to the television, “I wanna do!” Zayn chuckled and kissed the side of his brothers head, pulling him close, then getting up, making sure to carry Niall so he wouldn’t go missing again.

The rest of the guys from the basketball team met up with them once more, all of them cheering and laughing at Niall. It was nice to see his friends’ so accepting of the little guy. They didn’t make even make fun of Zayn for crying a little, something that would usually end up in him getting the best chirps from hell.

“Don’t ever run off again Niall.” Liam sighed, sitting down next to his little brother.

Niall looked up, blue eyes wide and shocked that Liam was the one to scold him. Niall knew it had been wrong to run off, but he didn’t want to disturb Zayn and he’d seen the cool video of what he’d learnt was called ‘skiing’ and he just had to look at it.

“I saw a cool video Liam!” Niall explained, “I wanna learn to do ski!” He grinned and looked over towards Colin who nodded.

“He’s going to be the next Tom Wallisch he told me!” Colin reached over, long lanky arms easily reaching the small boy and ruffling his hair good naturedly.

The group of teenagers just sat around the food court, talking and laughing when Niall started to feel a bit tired. He yawned and reached over to Zayn, tugging on his sleeve and mumbling about being sleepy.

It was pretty late, almost 8:30 and Niall was usually in bed by 9, so Zayn knew he had to bring Niall home. He didn’t want to be in trouble with his parents and Harry was probably missing his twin by then.

“Bring the little one around for a practice. With shoes like those he’s got to learn a decent sport.” Jack smiled and then Zayn was off with Niall resting on his hip.

The drive back was quiet, Niall apologizing to Zayn for running off. Zayn didn’t have it in his heart to be mad at Niall. He knew this was a bad thing, knew Niall needed someone to tell him no, but Zayn wasn’t that person.

Zayn was wrapped around Niall’s little hand… 


End file.
